• French police found a bomb in the Printemps department store, after a warning about the explosive was sent to a French news agency. A previously unknown group, demanding French withdrawal from Afghanistan, has claimed responsibility. — New York Times [1]
• President-elect Barack Obama continues to fill out his cabinet, naming the head of Chicago public schools Arne Duncan as education secretary and Steven Chu as energy secretary. — CNN [2]



• Despite warnings of fraud as early as 1999, the SEC did not investigate Bernard Madoff, who was charged last week with fraud after he allegedly volunteered the fact that he took $50 billion from investors. — Washington Post [3]
• A top high-school football recruit died in Mississippi of a possibly self-inflicted gun-shot wound, after a sheriff pulled him over last week. The NAACP has determined through its own investigation that his death was not a suicide. — Mississippi Press [4]

Source [5]